Democrats threaten to release confidential Kavanaugh documents

iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The third day of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court kicked off with another partisan fight over documents that have not been publicly released concerning his work at the White House under President George W. Bush.

One Democrat, Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey, threatened to release one of the documents on his own, prompting Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to accuse Booker of “conduct unbecoming of a senator.”

The fight began when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Democrats — who have protested that some documents were not available — had an opportunity to make their complaints beforehand but waited to do it publicly to delay the hearing.

Booker pushed back, blaming the process of having a private lawyer and former colleague of Kavanaugh, William Burck, vet the documents as the problem. Booker said he would release an email about racial profiling even, he said, if he could be kicked out of the Senate for violating rules.

“I come from a long line of Americans that understand what kind of civil disobedience is, and I understand the consequences. So I am right now — before your process is finished — I am going to release the email about racial profiling and I understand that the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate. If Senator Cornyn believes I violate Senate rules, I openly invite and accept the consequences of my team releasing that email right now,” Booker said.

Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut renewed his call for the documents to be released, as well.

On Wednesday, Kavanaugh answered questions about his views on executive power, abortion and gun laws, but mostly declined to comment on issues that could be part of a future case before the Supreme Court.